Choosing Living Room Flooring | What You Need To Know

If you are in the market for some new flooring for your living room, there is a range of factors to consider based on the style of flooring you’re after and your functional needs. These range from cost and durability to lifestyle factors, insulation properties and the all-important aesthetics. Here are some of your best options when it comes to living room flooring.

Timber floors

Timber or hardwood flooring is generally milled from a single piece of timber, is available in a wide range of colours, and Australian timber, in particular, has a characteristic appearance not seen in timber from other sources. Popular species often used for timber flooring include Black Butt, Jarrah and Spotted Gum.

Timber is an extremely sturdy, durable and wear resistant option for living room flooring as it tends to last longer than other flooring options. If well maintained, a quality timber floor can last more than 100 years, be sanded and refinished many times over its lifetime, and can also be refinished or stained to change its look.

In terms of cleaning, all these floors require is an antistatic mop to collect grit and dust once a week and a damp mop once a month using misted water or an approved cleaning product. If furniture feet are also used to avoid deep scratches, your floor will only require a light scuff-back and a recoat after about 10 or so years.

Available in planks, strips and parquet squares (more on that below), modern processes also now mean gapless floorboards, which makes them safer for little feet as well. A renewable material source, timber floors retain heat in colder climates, and if used in combination with a beautiful floor rug, will give your home a warm and inviting ambience, and an earthy yet luxurious feel.

Natural timber flooring is also an environment-friendly option as timber stores carbon for life. By removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, timber helps mitigate climate change. It’s also not only more energy efficient but uses less energy during production. Many Australian hardwood floors are also sustainable as they’re made using timber sourced from carefully managed Australian forests, particularly if they’re sourced and laid correctly.

Parquetry floors

Parquetry flooring refers to decoratively patterned flooring that’s created from a mosaic of timber pieces which are usually geometric in shape. Blocks of timber are manufactured and then laid individually to create particular patterns. Common shapes for parquetry floors include Flanders weave, chevron, herringbone, heritage, basket weave, brickbond, and square-on-square.

Different types of timber can also be used in the one pattern to create some amazing effects. For those that really want to show off their spectacular parquetry floors, they can also be accented with other materials like epoxy, ebony and marble.

Originally seen as a sign of wealth due to their complex installation, modern milling methods now deem this an option for all homeowners looking for the best flooring for the living room. In fact, although it looks expensive and has a timeless beauty, it’s about the same price as having solid timber floors installed. Therefore, it can add a great deal of value to your home.

Durable and easy to maintain, parquetry floors are non-allergenic, have natural insulation properties, and if a small section is damaged, it can easily be replaced. An entire floor can also be restored to its original condition by refinishing and sanding. Certain species of timber used in parquetry flooring (like Spotted Gum and Blackbutt) are also naturally fire resistant and therefore suitable for use in bushfire prone areas.

Cork floors

Cork flooring is a flooring derivative made from the bark of the cork oak that grows in forests in southern Europe. The bark of the tree is basically stripped when the tree’s around 25 years old, harvested every nine years or so, cut into strips and cured. If it’s not used for bottle stoppers, it is then ground into granules, bonded into blocks and then baked in moulds.

Different temperatures produce different coloured blocks that once baked, are cut into slabs, sanded and varnished, and they come in a range of patterns and colours to suit a variety of rooms and aesthetic styles.

In terms of living room flooring, they are soft-looking due to their usual tan or honey colouring and offer a warm, natural and earthy look. They are also durable, stain resistant, resistant to mildew and have a cushioned feel underfoot, making them relatively quiet to walk on. They also offer a cushioned surface for children to play on, and reduce the breakability of falling objects and bodies!

Cork floors are also an eco-friendly and sustainable choice because wood bark regenerates after harvesting, and therefore cork oak forests can be maintained for generations.

Bamboo floors

Produced from a type of grass, bamboo flooring is a natural material that is eco-friendly and a great choice for those who are after flooring with a lower environmental impact. This is because bamboo plants are a highly renewable resource that grow to maturity in as little as three years, which is much faster than hardwood trees which can take twenty plus years to reach maturity.

Bamboo floors in the living room are also cost-effective, durable, easy to maintain and more resistant to stains and water damage compared to most timber flooring (so perfect for damp climates). They won’t scratch or scuff like other flooring materials and are great for allergy sufferers because they don’t collect dust and dirt particles.

With an individual look that’s different to any other hard flooring, bamboo flooring is a real style statement offering a distinctive texture and finish.

Weighing up your options in terms of living room flooring? We can help! Contact the experts at Brisbane’s Finest Floors today on 0411 220 488.